In his 2013 state of the Union address, the U.S. President Barrack Obama, described 3D printing as having “the potential to
revolutionize the way we make almost everything.” So far this
has not come to pass and the infiltration of 3D printing into the
mainstream will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. As
with all young technologies 3D printers are currently expensive
and restricted, from a consumer perspective, to simple items.

Nonetheless 2015 will see some solid gains.

McKinsey Global institute estimates that 3D printing activities
will generate between $230 billion and $550 billion by 2025 — a
broad range reflecting uncertainty the impact this nascent technology will have. Aside from medical applications such as printing
pharmaceuticals or joint replacements, 3D printing is creating
waves everywhere. The consumer case is among the most compelling. People that can print goods no longer need to buy them.

The negatives for the global economy could also be significant.
The development of manufacturing economies like India, Mexico,
China, Bangladesh and Vietnam could be undermined by home
production. The production of illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and counterfeit goods will be hard to regulate. Collecting VAT
on printed goods could also be a thorny issue. Analyst Group
Gartner estimates that 3D printing will lead to copyright losses of
up to $100 billion by 2018.

Mike Darke

TPM/TPO Application Developer

Valvoline, A business of Ashland Inc.

Increasingly, CG companies are seeking a competitive advantage byuncovering actionable information contained in massive amountsof disconnected data. The data comes from a growing list of non-integrated sources, such as internal applications, third-party serviceproviders, cloud applications, and social media. Gaining advantagefrom the information contained in this data requires hiring andtraining employees with new skills, and leveraging advancedcomputing capabilities, such as data mining, machine learning, andcognitive computing. A top priority for CG companies should be todevelop and follow a roadmap that will enable them to profitablyremain competitive by improving their ability to manage massiveamounts data, and acquire the capabilities to extract relevant andactionable insights from this data. Business and IT must adapt andwork together to make this happen. This requires new skills for busi-ness and IT, more robust technology platforms, and better softwareapplications. Additionally, companies need to be prepared to reactquickly to a fast changing landscape. Hardware and applicationtechnologies are changing at an accelerating pace. Social mediaplatforms come and go, new technologies crop up constantly, andconsumer buying habits never stand still. CG companies need to ad-just their strategy to accomplish this, while not losing sight of whatis working for them now. Companies that succeed can look forwardto the exciting growth and profit opportunities that will arise fromthe increased knowledge they will have acquired from their data.

Mike FriedmanPartner

Kalypso

Why do so many companies consistently fail to deliver results from
innovation? To achieve breakthrough innovation results, it’s important to be clear on what it takes to be successful. If you don’t know
whether or not a new initiative or project is successful, and you don’t
understand why, you’ll always struggle to reach your business goals.
In 2015, CG companies need to get a grip on their data and start
converting insights into meaningful benefits. Organizations that use
quantifiable data to measure, analyze and act throughout their innovation and product development cycles are much more likely to succeed.
You can’t just look at massive streams of data and expect to get
answers. First, you need to understand what you are going to use
the data for. Then, you can use data to make smart choices and
enable strategic experiments to solve specific problems. This is
especially important with disruptive and new-to-the-world innovation. Create innovation pockets where you can run experiments
rather than throwing millions of dollars at the wall to see if it sticks.

Finally, make sure your entire organization knows how to use data
to deliver more of what works and less of what doesn’t. This way,
you can remain relentlessly focused on winning in the marketplace.

Ben Gadbois
Global President

Spin Master Ltd.

One key area of focus for Spin Master is creating products for
children that both entertain and educate. We are embracing the
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) movement
and as an organization, and are focused on constant innovation.

Twenty-first century consumers are hungry for innovative
products. As one of the world’s largest children’s entertainment
companies we innovate everything we do to stay on the leading
edge. Consider the metal parts and classic play pattern associated